Crosstalk. President s Message

Transcription

1 Crosstalk Issue #3 March, 2000 affiliated club President s Message As many of you probably know by now we have no power out at the club trailer. At last months general meeting, Al, KB2AYU stated that the blower motor for the heater had completely failed as everything else had appeared to be working. After he and Bob Budd installed a new motor in the heater they then discovered that there was a problem in the power. It turns out that the neutral line from the power pole is bad and we are not getting a return for the 110 volts. Therefore no heater, alarm, or anything that requires 110. The linears would power up but that isn't of much comfort. As of this writing, I haven t received any answers on who must repair the problem, Conectiv or us, and how much it would cost if we have to do it. For those that don t know why this is so major a deal, it s because the power lines are buried in PVC pipe from the road to the trailer. Repairing the problem could mean just digging a hole to get to the break once its located or digging up the ends and putting a brand new run in. At the Board meeting we discussed several ways to deal with the situation and they will be brought out at the next General meeting. On a lighter note, at the next general meeting when I ask for new upgrades, I know I will get at least 5 people to stand up if they are all in attendance. Ray, WB2LNR; Jim, K2OWE; and John, K2JF; were kind enough to hold a special VEC testing for those that are Advanced class that wanted to get their written test for Extra done before the new rules take effect. The testees have not upgraded yet, and won t, until the new rules take effect after April 15th, which also happens to be tax day. On a less pleasant note I received a call from our Sunshine Committee Chairlady, Miriam Kravitz, KB2EAU just recently. She wanted me to pass along to the members that Charley Sketchley, K2PQD; and Rich Munyan, WA2RCB; are ill. I know I haven t heard either one on the repeater for quite sometime and thought something might be amiss. Also, Miriam is stepping down from her Sunshine Committee post as she now has somewhat different concerns that she must spend her time and energies on. Miriam, from all of us at GCARC we wish you well and please stay in touch. The time is coming around where we are probably considering the antenna / tower work that we want to do. Plus we are looking at Field Day coming up in a few months. I may do something new and completely different this year and set up out at Field Day. Food for thought. Anyway, that's it for this month. See you at the meeting. ART KA2DOT 2000 DUES GCARC dues for the year 2000 are now due. The annual dues are $ Please send your checks directly to the treasurer, Bob Krchnavek (K2DAD) at 50 Eastwick Dr., Gibbsboro, NJ

2 2 DX Dope Our typesetter in last month s issue inadvertently missed a couple of lines [pardon moi - Ed], so let s, first off, fill in the blanks. To qualify for the WAZ award, you must work each of the 40 zones (any band, any mode) and submit a QSL card from each zone. Then, to receive the 5BWAZ award, you must work all 40 zones on each of the five major HF bands (i.e. 200 QSOs) less 20! That is, you get the award with cards from 180 of the 200 zones, then one can endorse the award up to the final total of 200. Hope that is now clear (like mud, maybe??). Now for some NEW DXCC country news! First off, the Chesterfield Island group (between Australia and New Caledonia) will be activated from March 15th to April 1st, 2000, with the call TX0DX already having been issued. This will be a Martti Laine operation - hence, it should prove to be a winner. Secondly, the island of East Timor (recently independent from Indonesia) has now received it s official country code from the International Telecommunications Union. The callsign block is expected momentarily, which should open the door for DXCC status. Thirdly, the Agalega operation (3B6 - near Madagascar), announced for next October, will authenticate this island as a new country. All of these changes are based upon the switch to the metric system for determining the distances between entity locations. One final bit, the Republic of China (Taiwan) ops wish to inform that the 1st Class License holders have now been issued the BX prefix. QSLs to any BX call should be sent to the corresponding BV call until these changes appear in the callbook or CD address files. Now, on to this month s hot spots: Station Dates Freq/Mode Rarity* Country TX0DX 3/15-4/1 All, 6m 5 Chesterfield Is. CE0Z 3/17-4/8 All band/mode 4 Juan Fernandez XF4LWY 3/3-3/8 All band/mode 3 Rev. Gigedo T32B 2/29-3/6 All band/mode 2 East Kiribati VP6BR till May All band/mode 3 Pitcairn Island 9G5VJ 3/7-3/20 CW only 2 Ghana FO0?? 3/1-3/8 All band/mode 4 Clipperton Island 9U5D till 4/10 Mostly CW 4 Burundi PJ8/HC 2/19-3/12 All band/mode 2 Sint Maarten JD1BKR till April Mostly SSB 3 Ogasawara * 5 rarest 73 de Doug WA2NPD -TNX to 59(9) Report, K2JF, and AA2WN

3 3 CANADA, AUSTRALIA EYE MORSE SPEED REDUCTION Canada and Australia could follow the US in reducing the Morse code examination requirement to 5 WPM for full HF access. Radio Amateurs of Canada announced plans this month to ask Industry Canada to eliminate that country's 12 WPM Morse requirement. The RAC Board of Directors has voted unanimously in favor of the proposal, expected to be filed soon. If enacted, the change would leave 5 WPM as the sole Morse code examination requirement for full HF access in Canada. Meanwhile, the Wireless Institute of Australia reports it's seriously considering whether to push regulatory authorities to reduce the maximum Morse code license test speed Down Under from 10 to 5 WPM. WIA says it expects to discuss the matter in detail next month with the Australian Communications Authority. The WIA says a majority of its membership divisions appear to favor the reduction from 10 to 5 WPM in Australia. The general issue of Morse code licensing requirements is expected to be a topic for debate at the IARU Region 3 conference the WIA will host later this year. Discussion of the International Radio Regulations regarding the Morse code requirement is not expected to come up prior to the World Radiocommunication Conference set for A single 5 WPM Morse code examination requirement for HF access goes into effect in the US on April 15 as part of sweeping licensing rules changes. The United Kingdom and Sweden also have adopted 5 WPM as the Morse code examination requirement for access to the full HF amateur spectrum. The South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is said to be poised to act on a South African Radio League request for a lower code speed limit there. Other nations have expressed interest in the issue. The Israeli Ministry of Communications has introduced a new license with a 6 WPM Morse code requirement that gives CW-only access to HF bands. The new ticket does not include all HF bands, however. -TNX ARRL Letter and ARRLWeb

4 4 Veteran PacSat Retasked University of Surrey, UK UO-14 was launched in January 1990 and spent its first 18 months in orbit operating as an amateur store and forward [packet - Ed] satellite prior to the launch of UO-22. It was then switched for use by VITA (Volunteers In Technical Assistance) who used it for messaging into Africa. Since the computer which is used for store and forward communications is no longer able to perform that task, UO-14 is no longer usable in this mode. It is however possible to use the satellite as a single channel FM voice repeater, and I [Chris Jackson G7UPN - Ed] have just configured the satellite to do this. The uplink is , and the downlink is I will leave the satellite running in this mode for the next few weeks. If it is useful, then I will probably leave it running - if it isn't used, it will be switched to transmitting telemetry. Happy 10th birthday UO-14! Ft. Meyers, FL UO-14 is currently operating as an FM bent pipe "repeater" satellite. As such, it is a full duplex bird, meaning that you can listen to the downlink as you transmit. If your rig is capable of full duplex operation, fine, otherwise half-duplex operation works just fine on the FM birds if you program the frequencies in your HT correctly. You should program your HT with 5 frequency pairs for working UO-14. Start with the first pair, using a non-standard split, and tune to the next one as the pass progresses. Downlnk - Uplink AOS Mid Pass LOS I have not worked this bird, in this mode yet, so only time will tell what the link budget requires for successful operation. I would imagine an Arrow type antenna will suffice for reception. We will have to experiment to determine if QRP power is sufficient to work the bird. - TNX to Chris Jackson G7UPN, UoSat Operations Manager and Mike Gilchrist KF4FDJ, AMSAT Area Coordinator, South Florida. For more information on working these satellites, plan on attending the GCARC General Membership Meeting, where the program will be Working the EasySats

5 5 In the Crystal Ball Department... I was surfing a rather interesting site on the Early History of Radio in the United States by Thomas H. White ( ) and came across a very interesting quote by David Sarnoff, Mr. or rather,dr. RCA himself. Think of the time frame of that quote, and compare it to your surroundings, now. I wish I was that accurate picking lottery numbers... JZ David Sarnoff, 1964: "The computer will become the hub of a vast network of remote data stations and information banks feeding into the machine at a transmission rate of a billion or more bits of information a second. Laser channels will vastly increase both data capacity and the speeds with which it will be transmitted. Eventually, a global communications network handling voice, data and facsimile will instantly link man to machine--or machine to machine--by land, air, underwater, and space circuits. [The computer] will affect man's ways of thinking, his means of education, his relationship to his physical and social environment, and it will alter his ways of living... [Before the end of the century, these forces] will coalesce into what unquestionably will become the greatest adventure of the human mind."--from David Sarnoff, by Eugene Lyons, I wonder if Dr. Sarnoff would revise the last part of that statement if he could see some of the nasty stuff out there in cyberspace. Crosstalk Swap & Shop For Sale: L.L. Grace Kansas City Tracker/Tuner. This is an ISA bus board, installed inside an IBM compatible PC for automated satellite groundstation control. It will control a Yaesu G-5400B Azimuth/Elevation rotator, for antenna tracking, along with automatic control of the ground station s radio(s). It has a selectable RS-232/ TTL level output for radio interfacing. $150 for the board, and free technical support to get you up and running. Contact: John Zaruba AA2BN (856)

6 -TNX to 59(9) Report, K2JF, and AA2WN 6 EI Activity Day The Irish Radio Transmitter Society (IRTS) is promoting a special activity day for St. Patrick s Day. This year 2000, St. Patrick s day is on March 17, Friday; the IRTS has declared EI Activity Day to be extended to Saturday and Sunday, 18th & 19th. The purpose is to get as many EI counties as possible on the air to help amateurs to achieve the WORKED EI COUNTIES AWARD. The WEIC award, issued by IRTS, is available to licensed amateurs worldwide who have worked EI or EJ stations located in at least twenty of the twenty six counties of Ireland. There are additional endorsements available for working all 26 counties, and for individual, and all mode contacts. It is also available to SWL s (short wave listeners) on an as heard basis. Detailed information on the WEIC award and membership in the IRTS is available from Joe Muffin, W2ORA/EI8GT 4 Central Avenue, Moorestown, NJ SASE please. -TNX to South Jersey Radio Association Harmonics Newsletter. GCARC Officers President - Art Strong KA2DOT Vice President - Gene Wallace N2IMK Treasurer - Bob Krchnavek K2DAD Recording Secretary - Open Corresponding Secretary - Chris West WA2MVU Board of Directors Chuck Colabrese WA2TML Al Arrison KB2AYU Jim Mollica K2OWE Bob Krukowski KR2U Wayne Wilson WA2LET Bill Blakeley WA2ADB

7 Happy Birthday Congratulations to the following club members: Jim Casto N2IMH 3/5 John Cronin KB2ETT 3/25 James DeForrest N2DJZ 3/3 Doug Gehring WA2NPD 3/13 Janice Gorman N2HYS 3/27 Fred Munzenmayer KB2BF 3/22 Greg Potter WN2T 3/13 Dave Strout W2YC 3/7 Mark Townsend W8HCL 3/1 Crosstalk Submissions All submissions, queries, comments, editorials,or requests for interviews may be directed to: John Zaruba AA2BN 491 Pennsylvania Ave Franklinville, NJ (856) voice (856) fax Submission deadline: 3/24/00 Committees Advertising - John N2AWD ARES/RACES -Chick WA2USI Awards - Jack K2ZA Banquet - Bob KR2U Budget - Bob K2DAD Clubhouse Site - Al KB2AYU Constitution - Open Crosstalk - John AA2BN Database - John AA2BN DX - Doug WA2NPD Field Day - Tony KG2MY Hamfest - John N2AWD Hospitality - Ray WB2NBJ Membership - John AA2BN Nominations - Bob KR2U Publicity - John N2AWD Repeaters - Chuck WA2TML Scholarships - Greg WN2T Special Services - Open Sunshine - Open Technical - Open TVI - John AA2BN VEC Testing - Chick WA2USI 4-H Parking - Bob KR2U

8 The W2MMD Repeaters /18 Mhz - Pitman / Mhz - Sewell 447.1/442.1 Mhz - Pitman (CTCSS Hz) Nets ARES/RACES - Sundays 20:00 Hrs (147.78/18 and / repeaters) 10 Meter - Sundays following the ARES/Races Net ( Mhz) GCARC Meetings General Membership 8p.m. 1st Wednesday every month, Pfeiffer Community Center, Williamstown, NJ Board of Directors 8 p.m. 3rd Wednesday every month, GCARC Club site,harrison Twp. 4-H Grounds ~1 mile south of Mullica Hill on RT77 March Meeting Program Working the EasySats presented by John Zaruba AA2BN stamp P.O. Box 370 Pitman, NJ Mailing Label